Our Free Motion Quilting Starter Panel has a beautiful row of Spiral Chain quilted through on-point blocks. Learn how to quilt this simple design, both by following a line and quilting free hand in this tutorial:
Check out the tools and supplies used in this tutorial:
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Start Quilting Spiral Chain
Spiral Chain is a beautiful design that easily fills any straight space - sashing or borders - really easily. The design printed on our starter panel is a perfect way to use Spiral Chain in on-point quilt blocks:
This is printed on a 1/4-inch scale, which is perfect for practice or for small areas of your quilt. If you decide to use Spiral Chain over large sections of your quilt, consider widening the space between the lines so your quilt doesn't become stiff.
This is another design that's great for practicing space estimation.
Space estimation is one of the biggest challenges with learning free motion quilting. It's the ability to look at a space and quilt your design so it fits Goldilocks-style - not too big, not too small - within the space you're quilting.
For any spiraling design, this is the ability to quilt into a space while leaving a wide gap for you to quilt back out of. We'll call that an escape route. Then as you escape, you stitch through the middle of that open space, dividing it in half.
Free Hand, Free Motion Quilting Spiral Chain
The Chain of Beads quilt is perfect for practicing Spiral Chain because we have narrow rectangles perfect for a row of spirals. Watch the video to see how I carefully quilted this design into these spaces, fitting the spirals both within the width of the strip and stacking them together so 4 or 5 fit perfectly within the length.
Check out more videos from this Start Quilting Series using the Free Motion Quilting Starter Kit:
#1 - Unboxing the Free Motion Quilting Starter Kit
#3 - FMQ Warm Up and Beginner Design
#4 - Beginner Skill Building Design Loops and Shells
#5 - How to Sew a Frame Weight
#6 - Testing the Frame Weight with Loops
#7 - Start Quilting Circles - Rocks and Pebbles
#8 - How to Quilt Loopy Hearts
